House Lawmakers Tell EPA to Acknowledge Negative Impacts of RFS

Today, 64 bipartisan Members of the United States House of Representatives, led by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.), and Jim Costa (D-Calif.), sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt emphasizing the negative impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on American consumers and the economy and urging the Agency to acknowledge the significant pitfalls and costs of the federal ethanol mandate in future rulemaking.

Text of the letter is available below. Please click here for a PDF copy.

Administrator Pruitt:

For over a decade, the American people have been forced to live with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a well-intentioned but deeply flawed policy that has negatively impacted families and businesses across the United States.

When the RFS was first passed in 2005, it was designed to reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil, to protect the environment, and to revitalize rural America. However, as we look in the rear-view mirror, it’s clear that the RFS accomplished none of these goals.

By diverting more than 35 percent of the annual corn harvest to fuel additive, the RFS has raised the cost of livestock production, increased food price volatility and insecurity, decreased fuel efficiency, damaged small-engine equipment, hurt the environment, and chipped away at household budgets. The combined effects of this ethanol mandate have created a hidden tax on every American consumer. Simply put, in its current state, the RFS has run out of gas.

American families and our economy have shouldered the costs of the failed ethanol mandate for far too long. As Members of Congress representing communities in every region of the United States, we urge the EPA to continue to acknowledge that the RFS has significant pitfalls and costs in future rulemaking.

We look forward to working with you to put forth well-founded biofuels policies that reflect market realities and benefit American families and businesses.